firewall configuration.

Ok I know that this probably seems like a naive question but, I am having trouble getting my firewall to work. I tried using zonealarm and it would allow all connections to the Internet except for browsing. I uninstalled it and then installed outpost and am having the same problem. I can ping websites and the router but I can't access these locations with the browser. They just don't load. I am assuming that port 80 is being blocked for some reason, but I can't figure out how or by what. The only way that I can access the Internet with firefox or ie is if I shut off outpost. I tried forwarding port 80 in my router to no avail.

Any ideas?

When the little bubble window popped up on zonealarm, did you grant iexplore.exe permission to go to the internet?

Greeting's

http://www.dslwebserver.com/main/sbs...nfigure.html..


Dont mind asking, if you find this guide tough to follow. Properly configuring your firewall is very important.

net2infinity, possibly the weirdest occurrence in this whole situation is that neither za or outpost asked me what to do when I ran ie or firefox. On both I manually set both browsers as fully allowed.


:confused:

Bizarre no?

Don't know bytewrangler. The page wouldn't load for me. I have tried it multiple times.

:confused:

I seem to be making a lot of those faces recently.

Greeting's

It seems that you are having two firewall's running on same system. Which is not a good idea. Uninstall one of the firewall's ASAP. I like outpost over Zonealarm but its hard to configure, as compared to Zonealarm.. Make your choice and uninstall one of them ASAP.

I only have one firewall running that I am aware of. Windows XP firewall is definately turned off. I had za running, but I experienced the aforementioned problem, so I uninstalled it. It was then that I installed outpost. And outpost is displaying the same properties.
For the record, I have yet to purge the registry of any trace of za, but that should be irrelevant since it was happening after a format and clean install of XP and there had never been any firewall of the system before.

What's the (IE) error message you're getting?

IE just gives me a blank screen and says "website found. Waiting for reply" and it will just sit there as long as I let it.

Greeting's

Seems like SVCHOST problem in outpost... whats your version..

Outpost firewall version 1.0.1817.1645

Greeting's

It seems you are using the free version of outpost. which is too old, anyway try making a new configuration. Click on File new configuration, let it select everything autocatically.. then try out

Wel I tried looking under file but all that I found was "always on top" and "exit". I actually couldn't find any thing about a new configuration.

I have tried ZA and few other popular personal firewalls but not outpost. The best was the Kerio (now Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall). No other product came close to it.


I have been using it It ( free version) for ages and never had a problem.

May be u should try it ? :)

regards

saint-frances,
occasionally, I find cleaning out my DNS cache does the trick. I use Outpost Pro and it's a solid product. I was going to tell you to turn off the DNS Cache plug-in for your version of Outpost but, I realized you also had the same problem with Zone Alarm which told me, it wasn't the Outpost plug-in. Sometimes, I get stuck loading pages (like you do) and until I flush out my DNS, the pages won't load. See the fact that you say -

Quote:

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IE just gives me a blank screen and says "website found. Waiting for reply" and it will just sit there as long as I let it.

---

leads me to believe that this is not a firewall problem.
So, I want you to try this:
Start --> Run --> (type in) Cmd
Hit Enter
Then type: Ipconfig /Flushdns
Try using your IE /Firefox after that.
Let me know if this helps you out.

Thanks for the advice shag devil but it didn't work either. Firefox just says "waiting for ....".

BTW, outpost says that firefox is using internal port 1046. Isn't it supposed to use port 80?

saint-francis,
I don't think the internal port matters (as you're making outbound connections) the important port is the remote port.
I have another question saint-frances. If you open up your Outpost and view network activity, while you open up IE /Firefox, does it appear as though it's making an outbound connection? I'm assuming it is. Have you checked all your configurations of your network connections? DHCP, IP etc.?

Greeting's

Here is the best solution.

1. Close all instances of FF, IE, Opera (or anyother browser on the PC)
2. Right click on outpost icon on the taskbar
3. Select "POLICY"
4. SELECT DISABLE
5. Start the browser on the PC and visit google.com
6. See if it works.


If it does work, the problem is outpost and specifically DNS or outbound rule in Outpost

Oh, if it does work dont start visiting all the site's you like, please take care of the problem and then start visiting all the site's.

Hi

Try a System Restore prior to downloading and installing ZA, see if this clears up the problem.

With either firewall disabled can you still access the net? What router are you using, does it have a built in firewall?


Also you might want to try
Winsock XP fix

Quote:

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WinSock XP Fix offers a last resort if your Internet connectivity has been corrupted due to invalid or removed registry entries. It can often cure the problem of lost connections after the removal of Adware components or improper uninstall of firewall applications or other tools that modify the XP network and Winsock settings. If you encounter connection problems after removing network related software, Adware or after registry clean-up; and all other ways fail, then give WinSock XP Fix a try. It can create a registry backup of your current settings, so it is fairly safe to use. We actually tested it on a test machine that was having a Winsock problem due to some Adware removal, and after running the utility and rebooting, the connectivity was restored.

---

ok. tried to disable outpost under options; didn't work. Tried winsock xp fix and then tcpip xp repair; didn't work. and it does appear as though firefox is making connections. My router does have a firewall and it is turned off. It is a dsl modem router combo. Westell 327w. Have yet to try a system restore though.

Thanks for all of the help. Every one is being really great.

saint-francis,
Well, by disabling Outpost and still having the same issue, at least eliminates the firewall as being the problem. I'm convinced it's a DNS issue but, I'm not 100% positive. You've already flushed your DNS on your system and that didn't work. I wonder if it's a DNS setting on your router? Could you do me a favor and run Ipconfig /all for me and copy the results here ? Maybe we could take a look at your DHCP and IP settings and see if something looks odd there. If that's not the problem, maybe it's a router setting. Let's try this step first.
In case you don't know:
Start-->Run-->Cmd
Ipconfig /All

Hmmmm. Can't copy from the command prompt. So I have enclosed a screen shot of it.

saint-francis,
I'm not sure why, but your IPconfig shows 2 DNS servers with the same IP address (192.168.1.1). This seems odd to me. You should only have one...unless I'm missing something. Well, it's late. I'll see what I can dig up tommorrow.

Hi,

I don't use OutPost, and I don't have exposure to the problem mentioned, but thought I would drop a few ideas.

1] How about analyzing the problem with the help of OSI Model?
2] How about Capturing Network Traffic? Look at the data at each Layer and see if it provides any clues in solving the problem?
3] How about using tools like netstat or tracert?

BTW, I came across this Thread on OutPost Firewall forums, and thought you would be interested in having a look at it. It's quite an old thread though.

http://www.outpostfirewall.com/forum...ead.php?t=5331

http://www.outpostfirewall.com/forum...highlight=6000

http://www.outpostfirewall.com/forum...&threadid=5443

Thanks

saint-francis,
I checked around and couldn't find any links that relate to 2 DNS servers with identical IP's in the IPConfig listing. I even tried to replicate the issue on my system by putting in the same DNS servers for Preferred and Alternate DNS servers, but Windows wouldn't let me.
Can you try this: Start -->Settings-->Network Connections, right-click on your connection and select Properties. In the "this connection uses the following items" scroll down and double-click "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)"
do you have "Obtain DNS server address automatically" selected?

If you do, I'd like you to try something else.
In the same window you have open "Internet Protocol TCP/IP Properties" select the Advanced button, then select the DNS tab and tell me what is has listed in the "DNS Server addresses in order of use"

Ok bytewrangler, "obtain dns server addresses automatically" is selected. "DNS Server addresses in order of use" is empty.

saint-francis,
Ok, the plot thickens. I'm still stumped why your NIC has two identical IP addresses for a DNS server (192.168.1.1). Well, I'm guessing you want your router to handle DNS requests/DNS Relays and that the router's IP is 192.168.1.1. This is fine. Since I have no idea why you're getting 2 DNS servers, let's maybe try a couple more IPconfig commands.
Do these commands in this order:
run IpConfig /release
run IpConfig /renew
run Ipconfig /flushdns
run Ipconfig /registerdns
run Ipconfig /all
Then attach a screen copy like you did last time of the Ipconfig /all.
If this shows no changes, I'm guessing it has to be a router issue at this point. There may be some protocol issues that I'm missing but I'm trying one thing at a time. Thanks.

Alright.

Bytewrangler, I tried all of the commands you suggested. I am still experiencing the problem.
Attached is the new screen shot.

Thank you very much. :)

saint-francis,
Ok then. Let's focus on the router.
Have you tried turning your router off and rebooting it? Sometimes that works in resolving issues I have.
Also, would you consider restoring the factory settings on your Westell 327W? I don't know how much configuring you did at this point. Would restoring the factory settings of the router be out of the question? (if you decide to do this, make sure you know your default factory login/password before you go ahead and restore it). There should be a small hole on the back of your router where you can use a paperclip or something small to press a button (I think you might need to hold it down for 10 or so seconds).
Another question, are you hardlined (ethernet cable) into the router or are you connecting wirelessly? Whichever way you are connected, maybe you should switch it up and see if that works.

So I reset the modem. I haven't touched it in any way accept to connect to the isp. No go. The pc is connected to the router via ethernet and doesn't have a wireless nic so I switched things up by connecting it to a different port on the router.

I have 2 nics in this computer. Could the nic be bad? Or could that have any thing to do with this?
I have no clue. I guess I'll try switching it just in case.

Thanks

saint-francis,
Not sure if your NIC is bad. Could you tell me what two NIC's you have? I'm not entirely sure what your setup is. In any event, let's see if you're getting any DNS resolution at all. Type this into the command prompt: ping -a 216.109.118.74
The next line down should say:
pinging p11.www.dcn.yahoo.com [216.109.118.74]
The reason I'm asking you to do this is simply because I want to see if DNS resolution is taking place at some point. I'll keep working on the issue with you. Thanks.

So I started using the other nic. I disabled the one I was using before ( the one built into the MB). According to the device manager it is an Intel 8255x-based pci ethernet adapter (10/100). The one that I am now using is a realtek rtl8139 family pci fast ethernet nic. The box is an IBM MPRO w/ 2 550 ghz pentium 3's, windows xp sp2, directly wired to the Westell 327W. The os was a clean install and format the day that I tried to run zonealarm. I haven't really tinkered with it too much since then. Just installed what's necessary to get by using a computer as a school/internet/media center.

This is turning out to be very informative for me. I am learning a lot just to keep up with what you are suggesting I do (not the commands, but what they are pointing to).

Thank you for all of the help.